Brain food

With my finals coming up in a couple of weeks I've started to think more about what I'm eating and how it affects my concentration (that's not to say I don't still indulge in some chocolate as a post-revision treat!)

I've been reading up on foods that are meant to be good for your brain and while some, such as turmeric, are a little more obscure, others are really common and super-easy to fit into your daily diet, like eggs.  This evening my meal contains lots of foods which are good for your brain.

Superfood Supper

I used salmon (an oily fish which apparently helps improve your attention span), eggs, brown rice (a wholegrain which will improve your concentration and focus), spinach and broccoli (pretty much all green leafy vegetables are recommended).

So here's my recipe for fried salmon, with egg-fried rice, steamed tender-stem broccoli and wilted spinach, with a mug of green tea.

For two portions you will need:
brown rice (about 100g)
some oil for frying
2 salmon fillets (skin on)
salt and pepper for seasoning
a small pack of tender-stem broccoli
2 eggs (beaten)
100g spinach

1. Cook the rice for 20-25 minutes in simmering water.  Drain and leave in the saucepan to one side.
2. Heat some oil in a pan and place the pieces of salmon, skin side down, into the pan.  Season your salmon with some salt and pepper.  Cook for 5-10 minutes (until the salmon is cooked to about halfway - this will vary depending on how thick your fillet is), then turn it over and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the salmon is cooked through.  Remove from the pan and place onto a plate.
3. I steamed my broccoli in a microwaveable steam bag for 4-5 minutes.
4. While the broccoli is steaming return the pan to the heat and add the rice, then pour in the beaten egg.  Fry for a couple of minutes, stirring, so that the egg cooks in with the rice.  Add the spinach to the pan and toss with the rice, cover the pan for a minute or so to allow the spinach to wilt slightly.
5. Place the broccoli and rice mixture onto the plate with your salmon and serve.

I realised as I was serving this that I had forgotten about a sauce.  Although this is fine without a sauce it may be a little dry.  Luckily I had some soy sauce in the cupboard and drizzled a little on.  If you're not a fan of soy sauce then you could also squeeze a little lemon juice over the salmon.

As for what to drink, green tea is meant to be good for you as it contains a small amount of caffeine which will help with your concentration, but not too much.

Green Tea

There are loads of other superfoods which you can try: beans, lentils, blueberries (which I've heard delay short-term memory loss - excellent when cramming!), nuts, avocado (a good source of fat and it reduces your blood pressure which is in turn good for the functioning of your brain) and pomegranate juice (which is meant to thin the blood, enabling good circulation which is good for the brain).  As for the turmeric I mentioned earlier, it helps to repair brain cells and regulate your mood.  The reason I included eggs in my meal is because they are a good source of vitamin D which helps to alleviate depression.  You can get vitamin D from being outside in the sun, but with the weather the way it is at the moment that seems like a rather unreliable source!

Finally, and most importantly, cocoa solids (i.e. dark chocolate) are also a good source of caffeine as, like green tea, it occurs in small quantities so is better for you than coffee.  Not only that, chocolate also helps with concentration, improves blood flow to the brain and as if that wasn't enough it also stimulates endorphins which make you feel good!

Brunch featuring Eggs Benedict

I have to admit, that the muffins you see in the final picture are not the ones I attempted to make.  I wanted to try the Baker Brothers' spinach muffins because you don't need an oven to cook them, just a frying pan.  However, I couldn't find semolina so I substituted it with breadcrumbs, which meant that the outside of the muffins burnt rather than browned.  However, the hollandaise was successful and tasted great with the shop-bought replacement muffins, poached eggs and smoked salmon.  I will update this post when I next try the muffins, hopefully I will be able to find semolina and they will turn out better than the first attempt!

The hollandaise:

3tbsp white wine vinegar

6 peppercorns

1 dried bay leaf

2 eggs - yolks only

125g butter

lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

I found that the taste of vinegar in this recipe was a little too strong so my advice would be to reduce it less.  The recipe says to put the vinegar in a small pan with the peppercorns and bay leaf and to reduce it over a high heat until there is only 1 tbsp left, the to remove the bay leaf and peppercorns from the reduction.  Personally I wouldn't reduce it as much.

You can make hollandaise by hand but it's far easier and quicker to use a food processor.

1. Put the egg yolks in a food processor with the vinegar reduction.
2. Gently melt the butter so that the solids separate from the liquid.  I then spooned off the solids, trying to take as little of the liquid as possible.
3. Turn the food processor on slowly and pour the liquid butter on to the egg yolks (my food processor has a nifty attachment on the lid which is designed for making sauces like mayonnaise or this hollandaise.  It means the butter trickles into the food processor slowly and gives you far more control.  At this point the sauce should thicken.  If it is too thick then add a little hot water.
4. Season with the salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.

The muffins:
I followed the Baker Brothers' spinach English muffins recipe, mixing together butter, sugar milk, dried yeast, nutmeg, fresh spinach and flour, before kneading and leaving to rise.  After they have risen you're meant to tip the sticky dough out onto a work surface, cover with cornmeal or semolina and gently stretch it out before cutting out discs.

The dough

English muffins are cooked in a very hot, dry frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side.

The muffin before it burned

Unfortunately this was the point where it all went wrong and I ended up with a rather burnt muffin.  I did scrape off the burnt  part and try the muffin, which tasted quite good so I will definitely be trying this recipe again and hopefully then I will be able to enjoy the whole muffin!

The poached eggs:
Poaching eggs is one of those skills which every cook should learn at some point.  I've tried poaching eggs without an egg poacher before but the attempt wasn't particularly successful.  However, this time I managed it!  My best advice is to use really fresh eggs as the white is a lot less watery and forms a better poached egg.  Some people say you should add vinegar to the water, others say you should swirl it as you put the eggs in, I didn't do either of these things as I've found it hasn't particularly helped in the past.  I heated a pan of water until it was only just simmering.  I cracked my egg into a cup first as I found it was then easier to pour it into the water, I also tried to use a spoon to make sure the egg white stayed together and coated the yolk.  I then let the egg cook for a few minutes until the white was cooked, but be careful not to leave it in too long otherwise the yolk won't be nice and runny.  I then removed the egg from the pan with a slotted spoon.  I poached two eggs at a time but the number you can make in one go is really only limited by the size of your saucepan.

To serve I buttered the muffins, placed a poached egg on one half, some smoked salmon on the other and drizzled them with the hollandaise.  Eggs Benedict or eggs royale as the dish is often called when served with smoked salmon is great to have as a treat for brunch when you want something a little bit more special.

Udon Noodle Soup

Sometimes you really want something warm and tasty for dinner, but don't have the energy or time to cook something fancy, it is at times like these when you need a soup like this udon noodle soup.  It is really simple, quick to make and tastes delicious.  Although it may not seem like it, this dish is actually quite cheap (and the more people you cook for the cheaper it will be).  I made it for 5 people and it cost about £1 per person (I still have most of a bottle of teriyaki sauce left as well as several stock cubes and a pack of noodles, so I will probably be making this dish again over the weekend).

Udon noodle soup

For 5 people you will need:

1 vegetable stock cube

60ml teriyaki sauce

1tbsp vegetable oil (for frying)

250g chestnut mushrooms (sliced)

3/4 bunch spring onions (sliced)

410g udon noodles (we used fresh egg noodles)

250g bag spinach

Chop the mushrooms then fry them over a high heat for a few minutes until they turn golden brown, add the spring onions and fry for a minute more, then set the pan aside.  While doing this boil 1.25 litres water in a kettle (or a saucepan if you have a second hob) and once boiled add the stock cube and teriyaki sauce.  Bring to the boil again and add the noodles for 2-3 minutes.  Then add the spinach (my pan was a little small so I had to do this gradually) and cook for about a minute until it has just wilted.  Finally stir in the mushrooms, spring onions and some seasoning before serving.

• If you aren't a fan of vegetarian cooking then this would taste great with some chicken, either cook it beforehand (under a grill or in a frying pan) or before you add the noodles, slice the chicken and cook it in the broth.
• For a more unusual vegetarian alternative you could substitute some of the chestnut mushrooms for other varieties of mushrooms.

The great thing about this dish is that it is so versatile, you can make as much or as little as you want and substitute ingredients depending on what you fancy.  I personally loved the dish the way it is, especially the spinach but I would be tempted to try the two variations I suggested above to change it up a bit.  This really is a simple yet great-tasting dish!

Adapted from the BBC GoodFood Magazine